Low frequency electromagnetic waves are commonly used for long range communication and direction finding. Generally, antennas, such as a dipole antenna, have a size on the order of half of the wavelength of the respective electromagnetic wave. At low frequencies (e.g. less than 100 MegaHertz (MHz)), an antenna may be approximately 1.5 meters (M) long to have a half-wavelength size. However, it is difficult, if not impractical, to build antennas of an appropriate size, yet still fit on the platform on which the antenna is to be used. Due to the size constraints, often times antennas will need to be smaller than the ideal length.
In addition, electrically-small antennas often times have large reactances and small radiation resistances that make their behavior less than ideal for many applications. When an antenna has a large reactance and small radiation resistance, it generally may not be able to efficiently transmit or receive electromagnetic energy. Therefore, electrically-small antennas typically perform very poorly compared to other antennas.